


Home Is Where The Heart Is

by BSBLover2538



Category: Backstreet Boys
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-03
Updated: 2018-11-03
Packaged: 2019-08-17 00:38:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,547
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16505813
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BSBLover2538/pseuds/BSBLover2538
Summary: Nick Carter had a job he hated, no place to live, and no idea what to do. One night at a park, he meets his future love, and also meets three lifelong friends along the way.





	Home Is Where The Heart Is

**Author's Note:**

> First try at Nick/AJ, and my first story with dialogue in it. Pretty proud of this one. I have another story going up on Wednesday, and then next Saturday.
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to the Backstreet Boys and all rights go to them and their management. This work is pure fiction.

Nick Carter was feeling hopeless. He was praying to every deity out there to get him out of his current situation. He was so fed up with everything, but couldn’t find a way out. He struggled with feelings of inadequacy and guilt. His family depended on his checks, but he hated his current job. He was a male stripper at the local club, and despised working there. He wanted something better, but had left school at sixteen to provide for his family. He was now nineteen years old, and had been working at the club for six months. He got a decent chunk of money each night he worked, but it left him feeling dirty. 

Nick left the club after yet another night of stripping, went to the local park, sat down and cried his heart out. He was so done with everything, and his family had recently kicked him out, since his mom had found something that gave them money, so they didn’t need him anymore. He had been staying at friends’ homes but that option was running dry. He needed to find somewhere to stay, but the looming doom of homelessness was a dark cloud over his head that kept chasing him. As he was crying and begging for a change, he didn’t notice another young man approach. 

“Hey man, are you okay there?” Nick heard a man ask, and whipped his head around as he tried to stop his tears. 

“Yea, I’m alright, just a bad case of allergies. This fall weather is killing me this year.” Nick hastened to cover up his tears. 

“You sure dude, because I heard some pretty heavy crying coming from this direction.” the young man explained, “My name is Alex, but you can call me AJ if you’d like.”

“Name’s Nick, and I’ll be alright eventually. Just some shitty circumstances right now.” 

“Yea man, I get that, any way I can help?” AJ asked.

“If you can make a place to stay suddenly appear, then yeah you can help me out, I’m trying to run away from homelessness, but it seems to be creeping nearer every day” Nick told AJ sadly, as AJ sat down next to him. 

“Ah man, I really wish I could help out, but I am chasing the same thing myself. You want to join me and my friends at our little place on the other side of the park?” 

Nick looked at the other man, and after a moment of thought, accepted. He followed AJ as he cut through the center of the park, and they soon came across a sea of tents. It seemed that this was where the homeless went at night. He followed closely after AJ, who suddenly stopped in front of a group of four tents. AJ knocked on the door of three of them. All of a sudden three men their age all stumbled out looking annoyed. 

“Hey man what’d you do that for?” asked the man with green eyes. 

“I was trying to sleep dude! You woke me up from an awesome dream!” protested the Spanish man. 

“What is it now?” snapped the short blond man.

“Kevin, Howie, Brian, this is Nick, he’ll be joining us at night from now on” AJ gestured to Nick, who shrank under the gaze of the other three. 

“Hello everyone, name’s Nick, recently homeless, but I got a job, shitty one, but gives me money for food each night” Nick shyly introduced himself.

“What, are you a stripper?” Brian asked rudely. Nick was immediately turned off by him. 

“Yeah, I am, what’s the problem with that?” snapped Nick. Kevin and Howie put their hands up in peace, and walked back to their tents. Brian just scoffed, and went to his tent and shoved the door shut. Nick look at AJ clueless. 

“You’ll get used to him, he’s a peach at times, but completely sweet at others. Just keep an eye on his moods” AJ explained. 

Nick nodded his head, as AJ explained that they would get his tent tomorrow, but tonight he had to share AJ’s. 

“Fine with me, we can conserve body heat and all that crap, like they said in science class” Nick snarked, as AJ smiled at the bite in his voice.

“Sorry dude, Brian rubbed me the wrong way, and I didn’t mean to snap at you” Nick apologized. 

“It’s all good, I get it completely. Sometimes I wonder how I’m still friends with him myself” AJ reassured Nick. 

The two got in AJ’s tent, and AJ tried to cover them the best he could. It wasn’t that cold, but there was still a little chill to the air. 

“Sorry man for the small sleeping space.” AJ tried to apologize, but Nick waved him off.

 Nick was the taller of the two, so AJ cuddled against him and they tried to fall asleep. The body heat being shared lulled them to sleep, and all too soon, they were woken up by the birds. 

“Ugh, what time is it?” Nick complained. AJ sat up to rub his eyes.

“Must be about 6 or 6:30 man, the sun’s just coming up” AJ told the cranky man next to him.

The two men stumbled out of their tent, to see Kevin and Howie starting a small fire to get warm, and heat some water up. Howie had found some coffee the day before, and they split it amongst themselves, with Brian coming out, and grunting at everyone. 

“What is going on today?” AJ asked the group surrounding the fire. 

“Well me and Howie are going to our usual spot at the soup kitchen for lunch, but otherwise, trying to find a job, like every day.” Kevin explained, with Howie nodding in agreement to his words. 

“I’m going back to the club, have a shift tonight” Nick said sadly, as he shook his head. 

“What, going to whore yourself out again? Pretty boys like you just take advantage of your looks, huh?” snarled Brian in Nick’s direction. Nick stood up, with Brian rising as well, as AJ got in between the two blondes who were sending murderous looks at each other. 

“Hey, Brian! Cool it! Spend the day in your tent if you can’t be civil, or just go find something else to do” snapped AJ in his direction, as Nick sat back down. 

“Fine by me! I don’t want to be around the new kid anyway!” Brian went to his tent for a minute, before storming off to parts unknown. AJ knew he would be back that night, since he had nowhere else to go. 

“Sorry guys, I know I don’t have the best job, but I won’t have Brian disparaging me, I really can’t find any other work” Nick explained to Howie and Kevin, who just shrugged their shoulders. 

“We don’t know why he’s being an ass, Brian’s usually pretty sweet, no idea why he’s reacting to you so harshly” reasoned Howie. 

“I don’t mean to sound crass, but it really doesn’t matter why he’s reacting the way he is to me. I just won’t stand for it day after day, so I hope he calms down soon, because I will leave if it doesn’t change.” declared Nick. 

Howie and Kevin saw AJ’s face fall after Nick’s statement, and shared a glance. It seemed that their friend had developed a crush on the taller blonde. The two men tactfully went back to their tents to get their stuff for another day on the streets, and soon left the remaining two men alone by the embers of the dying fire. 

“Were you serious about leaving?” questioned AJ as he gazed at Nick.

“Yea man, I know my job sucks, but I won’t listen to him crapping on it every day. I want to find something else, but no one will hire a stripper for much of anything else” Nick explained. 

AJ knew he had to talk to Brian, because he really didn’t want Nick to leave. He had fallen for the slightly older man in just one night. The two men soon set off to get Nick his own tent, and after buying the cheapest one he could, Nick set his up between AJ’s and Howie’s. AJ sadly watched Nick leave for the club, and waited for Brian to come back, to confront him on his attitude towards Nick. An hour later, Brian came back looking like a kicked puppy. Most of the ire in AJ fell as he asked after Brian.

“Hey man what’s going on?” AJ asked the forlorn looking man. 

“I’ve been spending the day thinking about what I said to Nick, and I don’t know what came over me, at least he has a job, unlike me. Maybe I was just jealous of him, but I really regret the words I said to him” Brian spoke haltingly, as he watched AJ’s expression darken.

“Why did you have to say all of that to Nick anyway? He said himself that he hates his job, but you go and call him a whore? Real smooth coming from the man who can’t find a job himself!” AJ knew this was hypocritical of him, considering he also didn’t have a job, but his anger overtook him, and he knew he had to calm down. He watched as Brian, instead of getting angry, just looked more upset with himself. AJ knew he had to apologize.

“Sorry Bri, I just really want Nick to stay with us, and I thought you two would be close, but then you go and stick your foot in your mouth. You need to do some serious apologizing. And not to me, but to Nick” AJ spoke to the man, who nodded his head, and went back to his tent to think until Nick came back from the club. 

Kevin and Howie soon returned with some leftover bread they had found, and Nick soon returned with some cheap food he had bought to share with the other guys. AJ told Nick about his and Brian’s conversation, and Nick knew he had to wait for Brian to come to him, but didn’t want the man to starve, so he decided to knock on his tent flap, and offer food. 

“Hey Brian, I know you’ve been in there most of the day, but I got some chips and cookies here, if you want something to eat” Nick called through the tent. He heard rustling, and Brian’s head soon popped through, and Nick held up the food. Brian took it hesitantly, Nick sent him a quick smile, and went back to the fire hole where AJ and Howie had one started. Brian looked down at the food, and his friends, and made a quick decision. He came out and hesitantly sat on the outskirts of the group, and quietly ate his food.

“Hey B-Rok, you know we don’t bite, right?” Brian looked up to see the other four staring at him. 

“Yea man, if you want to get warm, come closer to the fire, won’t be long till we’ll have to put it out for the night” Kevin encouraged his cousin to come closer to the fire. Brian scooted himself closer, before Kevin grabbed his arm, and sat him next to the fire. 

“Cuz, you are freezing! Eat and get warm, before you end up with a hospital bill that you can’t pay!” Kevin scolded Brian, who turned twelve shades of red, and avoided eye contact with everyone. 

“Thanks for the food.” mumbled Brian towards Nick, who nodded his head. AJ heard what Brian said, and silently gave thanks that he was making an effort to be civil with Nick. AJ brushed his arm against Kevin and Howie, and nodded with his head to go to the woods to relieve themselves, giving Brian and Nick a chance to talk. Kevin and Howie got up and excused themselves, along with AJ, leaving the two blondes alone. 

“Hey Nick, I want to apologize for last night and this morning, I was way out of line, and had no right to say those things to you. At least you have a job, and can buy some food for yourself each day, and you are a bigger man than I am to offer it to the guy who has given you nothing but shit since you met him” lamented Brian, as he gazed at Nick with an apologetic look on his face. 

“I am sorry too, I shouldn’t have gotten so defensive, but what you said hurt. I know my job is crap, but I am not a whore. I don’t have sex, I just dance along to the music and girls pay money to see me get dressed down to my underwear. I get tipped and use that to live on. And I may have been pissed at you, but I wasn’t about to let you starve. I don’t do that to anyone, even people who are jerks to me.” Nick matched Brian’s look with a soft gaze at the other blonde. 

“Can we start over, I would like to get to know you better, see the man that’s more than his job” Brian pleaded with Nick. 

“Sure man, I’d like that, I enjoy staying with you guys, makes me feel not so alone anymore.” Nick accepted a hug from Brian as the two stood up. 

The other three walked up as Nick and Brian pulled out of their hug, and AJ sent thanks upwards for his prayer being answered. 

The days went by, and Nick got used to living in the tents with the others. They formed an easy friendship, and one day Howie came back and said that he had scored a job interview for the next day. The other four were ecstatic for the soft-spoken man, and Nick used some of his money to get Howie a new shirt, and pants for the interview. He came back and said he had landed the job, and would start the next day. The three who were still jobless, sent prayers asking for good tidings to come their way soon. 

“What is going on today?” Kevin asked a few days later.

“Well Nick and I have work, but maybe we can pool our money together and get a full meal tonight, since we both get paid today” Howie offered. They quickly decided to do just that, and the five went their separate ways. 

Nick and AJ had been sharing a tent lately, and the other three noticed that Nick’s tent went unused more often than not. Later that same night, as they were eating their largest meal in months, Brian decided to ask about them. 

“Are you two shacking up together?” Brian teased the two men, as they both went bright red. Nick and Brian had become close over the last few days since Brian looked beyond Nick’s job to see the man underneath. 

“Yes, we are, any issues with that?” AJ boldly stated, taking Nick’s hand as he glared at Brian. 

“No man, just happy to see you happy again” Brian placated the irate man. He had known AJ for a few years, knew that the man had come from rough beginnings, and was genuinely happy to see AJ with someone that put a smile on his face again.

AJ smiled at his friend, and saw that Howie and Kevin were also happy for him as well. He just held Nick’s hand as they watched the fire slowly die, and they went into their shared tent to sleep together. 

A month passed, Kevin and AJ had found jobs, and things were starting to look up for the five. They had pooled their money together each day, and were able to eat well for the first time in months. They had had to move to another location in the park after the cops chased them out, and now it was just the five of them together. 

“How much longer until we are able to improve our situations?” Nick asked Brian who kept track of the money, and had saved much of what the four earned, to try to come up with enough for a place to live. 

“About another three months or so, we should be able to get a 2-bedroom place, which would be more than enough, but if we wait until next fall, we should have enough saved to bank for a while, and be a lot more secure” Brian replied, as he watched their faces fall.

 It was now the middle of winter, and they used most of their money to get layers of clothes and blankets so they didn’t freeze each night. Luckily, they lived in Virginia, so it didn’t get bitterly cold at night most nights. They had dodged snow so far, but knew their luck would run out soon. They had an emergency fund for a hotel room if it got too bad, but really didn’t want to have to use it if they didn’t have to. 

“Okay, let’s see if we can make it through the winter, and reevaluate in three months, to see where we are at. It will be easier if Brian can get a job as well, which will make the timescale move up” AJ reasoned with the other four, who agreed with him. 

“Yea, what you are saying makes sense, it just sucks right now” Howie lamented. Kevin and Nick nodded their heads, while Brian bowed his head in shame, he had yet to find a job, and it made him feel horrible. The other four reassured the man that he would find one soon. 

Three months later, Nick and AJ had continued their relationship, and were soon coming up on six months since Nick had joined them, and they started their relationship. Brian had found a job, thankfully, and it was now possible for them to find an apartment together. The five, who were desperate to get out of the tents, scooped up the first apartment that wasn’t half bad, and today they would move their meager belongings in. 

“Home sweet Home!” AJ yelled as he turned the key to get into their new apartment. They had decided that Nick and AJ would share one bedroom, the cousins would get the other one, and Howie would sleep in the living room. 

“Can we make an actual meal tonight, with hot food please?” Nick pleaded with his boyfriend and the men who he now thought of as his brothers. 

“Yea sure, I’ll go out and go to the thrift store to pick up some cheap kitchen stuff, and we can make some real food” Brian hopped up with his cousin to go to the nearby thrift shop, bringing Howie with them. 

“Let’s break in our new mattress, huh Nick?” AJ questioned his boyfriend.

“Yea lets, since I don’t know when we will have the time to do it again anytime soon” Nick laughed as he and his boyfriend did just that. Two hours later they heard the door open.

“You two better be decent!” Brian yelled through the apartment. The couple in question came out of their bedroom looking blissed, as Kevin, Brian, and Howie stifled laughs at the couple’s faces. Two hours later, the group of five shared their first home cooked meal in years. 

Nick had been wanting to leave his job at the club for the last month, finally having had reached his breaking point, and knew that AJ worked at a local bookstore, so he went to see if they would hire him too. Luckily, they were hiring, and hired Nick after hearing that AJ already worked with them. Nick left to give his notice at the club, and finally felt at peace for the first time in a year. 

“Guess what guys?” Nick spoke that night as they were eating dinner. 

“What, everything alright?” Howie questioned. 

“I finally put my notice in at the club, I got a new job working with AJ at the bookstore!” enthused Nick, as the four congratulated the jubilant man. They all knew that Nick hated the club, and were happy he was able to get out of there. 

“That’s awesome news man!” Brian exclaimed. 

“Here, here” Kevin echoed his cousin’s words with a smile towards Nick.  

Nick started his new job, and loved it. He had always harbored a secret love of reading, and loved being surrounded by books each day, with AJ feeling the same way. They often got into discussions about books they had read, and sometimes the other three joined in as well. 

Time went on, and the five continued living together, feeling very proud of themselves. They had gone from the deepest depths of homelessness, to each having a job, a place to live, and three meals in their stomachs each day. Three years later, Nick proposed to AJ, and the two went on to have a small wedding, with their brothers in attendance. Brian, Kevin, and Howie all also found their own significant others, and moved into their own apartments. As he was getting ready for bed one night, Nick Carter-McLean realized that it didn’t matter where his home was, because AJ would always be in his heart, and that is where his home was.


End file.
